Excitebike was one of the NES’ biggest hits outside the major contenders like Mario and Zelda, but I’m surprised Excitebike 64 really never made quite the impact. I wasn’t as into video games during the N64 era, so this slipped by and I never noticed for years.

But unlike the original Excitebike, this was a real 3D racing game. But it still retained classic elements like the brightly colored racers, hill jumps, and a track editor.

The game was quite the hit critically gaining very positive reviews. But the game came out rather late in 2000 which makes me wonder why they just didn’t wait for a Nintendo Gamecube upgrade and release for the new console the next year. It would take 7 more years for a sequel, Excite Truck to be released on the Nintendo Wii. I wish I could go back and give this game a try, but Nintendo has oddly left it out of the Virtual Console selection to date.